Alternative mechanics

[Andrew Martin]

From Universalis 6.1:

For example: The game is set in a dark and twisted future. Andrew has framed a scene where two characters, Croc and Rat, are exploring a ruined skyscraper in an abandoned zone of Metro City. He has narrated the pair climbing through the dusty twisted remains searching for old world artifacts to sell on the black market. At this point Bob decides to throw in an Obstacle.

Bob: As they attempt to move deeper into the ruins, they find their way blocked by an ancient fire door, now solidly rusted shut. 4 Coins to buy 4 Dice for the door's difficulty.

Recognizing that he could simply narrate the pair's attempt to go another route, Andrew decides instead to meet Bob's challenge.

Andrew: 1 coin Activates Croc's "Bulging Muscles +4" and adds 4 Dice to Croc's Dice Pool. He's going to try to force the door.

Christine: 1 coin to Interrupt. I'll use 5 Free Coins Drawn from Rat's "Scrounging +5" Trait to Create a Battering Ram which is some piece of metal scrap Rat found, and purchase "Hard Metal +2" for the Ram. Then I'll spend a second Wealth coin to Activate that Trait and add 2 more Dice to Croc's Pool. "Here Croc, try this," says Rat.

Bob: That's a good idea, but with all the wreckage and stuff lying around, I'm going to spend 1 coin to say that there isn't enough room to use the ram effectively and remove 1 die from Croc's Pool

At this point, nobody wants to add anything further so dice are rolled. Croc's Pool has 5 Dice and the Complication has 4.

Andrew Rolls for Croc: 5, 7, 3, 2, 8 => 3 Successes
Bob Rolls for the door: 4, 3, 1, 9 => 3 Successes

Successes are tied, but Andrew's sum is 10 (5+3+2) while Bob's is only 8 (4+3+1). Andrew gets the Edge die and the Pools are rerolled.

Andrew Rolls for Croc: 6, 4, 1, 7, 10 Edge Die 3 => 3 Successes
Bob Rolls for the door: 4, 8, 7, 2 => 2 Successes.

Andrew Wins and gets 8 Free Coins (4 + 1 + 3). Bob, as the Loser, gets 4 Free Coins (1 Free coin per die).

Andrew narrates first as the winner:
Croc threw all his weight behind the makeshift ram and at first it didn't budge (Event 1 coin). Note: this use of a coin to establish an Event, which had no effect, was Andrew's way of acknowledging the initial tied roll.
Finally, just as he was about to give up, the rusty seal breaks and the heavy door scrapes open (Fact 1 coin). Note: technically the idea that the door was "heavy" could constitute a separate Fact, if the player had any reason to want to pay for it.
On the other side of the door is a partially collapsed Stairwell (Create Stairwell as a Component 1 coin).
The air from beyond is dank and stale. Wherever the stairs lead it must be an area that hasn't been explored before (Create New Ruin Section as a Location Component for 1 coin, add Trait "Unexplored +2" to it for 4 Coins).

Bob narrates for the Losing Pool:
The Ram has an Importance of only 2 (1+1 Trait) so Bob could use all 4 of his Free Coins to narrate how the ram broke in the process. Instead he decides on the following:
Croc is slightly winded from his efforts (Purchase Trait "Winded +1" for 2 Coins).
The ram was severely battered against the metal door (Reduce Importance Trait by 1 for 2 Coins.).

At this point the Complication is fully resolved and play now continues with Christine who was last to Interrupt and has not yet ended her turn or been Interrupted herself.

And here's how I'd prefer to have it:

For example: The game is set in a dark and twisted future. Andrew has framed a scene where two characters, Croc and Rat, are exploring a ruined skyscraper in an abandoned zone of Metro City. He has narrated the pair climbing through the dusty twisted remains searching for old world artifacts to sell on the black market. At this point Bob decides to throw in an Obstacle.

Bob: Pays one coin to put in a obstacle (with difficulty 1) and states, "As they attempt to move deeper into the ruins, they find their way blocked by an ancient fire door, now solidly rusted shut."

Recognizing that he could simply narrate the pair's attempt to go another route, Andrew decides instead to meet Bob's challenge.

Andrew: "Croc uses his Bulging Muscles +4 and attempts to force open the door." Odds of 1 for human strength + 4 Bulging Muscles, total of 5 to 1, I'll roll a D6... Bob interrupts!

Bob: "Unfortunately, he finds that the door is solidly stuck.", and plays 4 coins making the difficulty +4 to 5. (The pile of coins bet by Bob is the stack of difficulty).

Andrew: I don't like those odds. "This door looks stuck!"

Christine: Rat, seeing Croc's difficulty, looks around the ruins. After a while, he comes back with a very strong, long metal bar which can act like a prybar and hands it to Croc, "Here Croc, try this". Rat uses Scrounging +5 to find a tool +5, which can be used to ease the difficulty of strength challenges.

Bob: With all the wreckage and stuff lying around, there isn't enough room to use the pry bar effectively," and tosses another coin onto the difficulty.

Andrew: "Croc jabs the pry bar into the jamb of the door. On the count of three, Rat. One, two, three..." Using Croc's strength and Bulging Muscles +4, Rat's effort as one, and Pry Bar +5, that's odds of 11 for versus...

Bob: 5 for the stuck door, plus 1 for lack of room makes 6 against.

Christine: 11:6 odds. I'll roll a D20 for our side, 1 - 11, we open the door. Christine rolls the D20 and gets a 13. "Despite the efforts of Croc and Rat, they couldn't get the door open." Rat says, "let's get this stuff out of the way, Croc, so we can give it a better go."

Andrew: "Croc grunts acknowledge and, using the pry bar and bulging muscles, sweeps away the debris." Strength + Bulging Muscles +4, Pry Bar +5, 11 versus 1 difficulty.

Bob: elects not to interrupt with more difficulties.

Christine: "Rat keeps an eye out and kicks the rubble away." Adds +1 to Croc's efforts. Odds of 10 + 1 = 12 versus 1. Roll D20 1 - 12, and rolls 2. Win! Rat and Croc clear the way.

Andrew: "That's better!" Croc applys the pry bar to the door, and with Rat's aid,..."

Christine: "Rat leaps up and pulls down on the bar as Croc heaves." Odds of 11:6. I'll roll D20. 1 - 11, we win, 18+ reroll. Rolls dice and gets 4. Win! "Croc and Rat lever open the door."

At this point, I'm not sure what to do with coins bet by Bob. But it does seem a lot simpler.

[Valamir]

Thanks for taking a look at the game Andrew.

At this point we are pretty much past the stage of soliciting ideas and general commentary, however.  What we really need are people to actually play the game and report on how things went (as specifically as possible).  

Please play the game as written and report back with specific examples of situations where the Complication mechanics did not work as smoothly as you would have liked.

[Mike Holmes]

Hi Andrew,

What you post is interesting, but I have to agree with Ralph. We've actually been all over this territory before, some of which you may have read in other threads here. And we have made strides to simplify other portions of the game.

It might make for good mechanics in another game, however...which is something to conisder.

This is not to say that we don't respect your opinion on this, Andrew, but this specific sort of simplification is something that we've just decided against permenantly, unfortunately (we have to make some solid decisions or the game will never be complete). If you want to continue to talk about it or get my particular reasoning behind it, feel free to PM me and ask. I hope that the rules as written don't break the game for you. You may find that they are easier to use than the rules might seem to indicate to you.

Thanks,
Mike